CHICAGO – Anthony Pettis has been down this road before, and it didn’t treat him nicely.

After winning the final WEC lightweight title before that promotion closed its doors to merge with the UFC, Pettis was promised a UFC title shot against the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard winner.

The rest essentially lives in infamy for Pettis. Edgar and Maynard fought to a draw, then needed 10 months to rematch. And in the meantime, Pettis took a fight with Clay Guida, lost and was bumped back in the pack.

But on Saturday at UFC on FOX 6 at United Center in Chicago, Pettis (16-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) devastated Donald Cerrone (19-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) with a kick to the body, then finished with a couple shots on the ground for a first-round TKO victory.

The win got him a $50,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus and, yes, another promise of a title shot. But once again, he’ll be playing the waiting game. Lightweight champ Benson Henderson, whom Pettis beat at WEC 53 to claim the final WEC 155-pound title, will defend his belt on April 20 against former Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez.

That means the timetable for Pettis could be late summer at the earliest, or maybe even early fall. But instead of taking a fight in the meantime, Pettis said he’ll wait it out. Saturday’s fight for him was his first in nearly a year after missing much of 2012 with an injury and surgery.

“If it’s a guaranteed title shot, then I’m waiting,” Pettis said. “That was my goal this year, and I’m definitely going to wait and get better.”

UFC President Dana White said despite Pettis’ dominant performance over Cerrone, who had won six of his first seven fights in the UFC and had never been knocked out before, he didn’t believe there was reason to take Melendez out of the title fight in favor of Pettis.

“I think the Melendez fight is pretty set, but (Pettis is) next,” White said. “I can’t say enough things about the kid tonight – that was incredible. Obviously his big all-time highlight will be the kick off the fence. But tonight, the knee off the fence, was unbelievable.”

At WEC 53, Pettis’ “Showtime kick” off the fence became an instant all-time highlight-reel moment. On Saturday, he again jumped off the fence and landed a knee against Cerrone just moments before finishing him.

White was on the fence on whether or not Pettis might be making the right decision to keep training and wait for the fight.

“It’s one of those things, again, let’s see how it goes,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “To make these decisions tonight – we’ll see how this thing plays out. You never know what’s going to happen. I’ve seen both go the wrong way.”

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